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A Shepherd's Tale
"I have a reputation for being tough, but in the end I was being used as an unpaid slave to round up cattle from forest and ravines."

Meet Gervase Markham
"I wanted to read all the great books of the world in their original language...I started with the easy ones, Homer and Virgil."

Radio Related Recollections
"What you're doing gets woven in to what's on the radio - the kitchen floor is definitely The Hound of the Baskervilles.."

Imaginary Buildings
"I think my building fantasies are caused by the frustration of not being a home-owner..."

Hooligan to Pastor
"Being a football hooligan used to excite me - now my life has changed beyond all recognition."

Travelling with a Purpose
"We just heard from air traffic control that Santa's doing a test run on his sledge..."

My Sons' Girlfriends
"A daughter-in-law is for life, not just for Christmas! I want someone on whom I can bestow all my undoubted wisdom!"

Stephen's Remarkable Dog
"Stephen wanted to be treated as a normal teenager - with the dog he forgot for a while that he was so ill ..."

Fantasy Worlds
David is twelve, "I flicker my fingers in front of my eyes - then I'm there - in my own imaginary world."

My Weight Problem
Robert weighed 50 stone, "You're sitting there stuffed full - your belly's sore and you're still stuffing..."

Butter Butt
"'Butter will be cheap next year' my mother always said to me when she caught me scratching my bum ..."

My Drug Addict Daughter
"The worst thing is seeing your own daughter gradually sinking down into the gutter.

Poison Gas Survivors
"I felt depressed after the accident - now I have a new lease of life, I'm not phased by little things ..."

Leaving a Life of Crime
"I was in hiding from the police - then I saw a news flash - my mother had been shot..."

The Art of Holding Hands
"Jackie Onassis held hands with Frank Sinatra just as we are now - it's very protective..."

Leaving a Life of Crime
"I was in hiding from the police - then I saw a news flash - my mother had been shot..."

True Friends
"When Olive said, 'I'll give you the money to finish your studies' - it was like a dream to me."

Mum Came Too
"I worried the students wouldn't speak to us when they saw my wheelchair & my mum with me.."

Manipulative Mum
Su Thompson's sister wangled out of her small son what Daddy had bought for her birthday...

Why I Was Born?
"If those people hadn't lost their lives, neither I, nor my daughter or granddaughter would've been here.."

When Things Go Missing
"In the end we were turning out cupboards, whole rooms, even looking under floorboards..."

Living In A Car - Update
"George wouldn't go into hospital until I was safe - he wouldn't leave me living in the car."

Telling the Kids
"My God! I thought, how am I going to tell the children in the morning that their Mum’s left?"

Living Will
"After the accident, my husband was brain dead - there was no consciousness at all."

Mothers and Brothers
" I kept the secret for 55 years - my son John had a brother who I'd had to give up for adoption..."

Building A Relationship
"Building our house together is like an extension of our relationship - it's unfinishable!"

Bearing It
"The polar bear smelt our soup & stretched up to the window, his huge black nose and eyes gleaming." (photo)

Escaping A Silly Name
"My mother wanted to honour her political views by naming her daughter after her hero - Lenin."

The Rooftop Dakota
"The plane gave a nerve-racking wobble upward, and scooped itself in a painful limp over our roof..." (photo)

Rock n' Roll Regression
"Hit 50, and parents become the adolescents again - which includes loud music..."

My Violent Girlfriend
"I tried to hold her close to me so she couldn’t hit or bite me - it was a restraining cuddle..."

Leaving A Cult
Clare - "When we left the cult, the pastor told us we were possessed and a 'tool of the devil' ! "

Single Sex Words?
"The word 'feisty' gets up my nose every time - you never hear about feisty men, only women ..."

Bath Time
"It was quite romantic, I always remember having a set of taps sticking in my back!"

Cultural Strangers
"Will I be able to love these two people, something inside me said no."

Famous Fathers
"I was ever so lucky, because he was my father and I trusted him completely."

Handy Hints
"When buying vegetables my wife won't tie knots in supermarket bags because 'it makes them heavier'."

Carry on Camping
"How many hours sleep did you get last night - I got three with all the shouting, screaming and laughing."

The Death of My Twin
"When your twin dies, and you stop being a twin, you have to reconsider your whole sense of self..."

The Legacy of Bullies
"I find it difficult to talk about - just admitting I was bullied at school is almost admitting I'm a failure..."

Glory Days
"Families were given three bedroom homes with views of the Isle of Wight - and a true sense of community."

Pointless Games
"The game involved walking in a straight line until you hit and obstacle, then you immediately turned left..."

I Never Bullied Again
"I hit the boy - he began to cry - I regretted what I'd done - I couldn't apologise - I'd have lost face..."

Carry on Camping
"How many hours sleep did you get last night - I got three with all the shouting, screaming and laughing."

Pointless Games
"The game involved walking in a straight line until you hit and obstacle, then you immediately turned left..."

The Death of My Twin
"When your twin dies, and you stop being a twin, you have to reconsider your whole sense of self..."

My Father's Missing
Metu - "I've never seen my father - in my head I know I'll probably never see him, but in my heart I still have hope."

Stop The Bullies
Samantha, 15 - "So much bullying goes in schools and I'm fed up of this disgusting power-abuse."

Michael and Joseph Marry
"We want state recognition - so when one of us is in hospital, the other's able to make decisions for them - it's a lot to do with peace of mind"

Theo's Atonement
Former member of the Hitler Youth, Theo's now converted to Judaism,"It was the only way of coping with the pain of the Holocaust."

Nan and Cindy
"I love my Nana more than my Mum. My mum brought me into this world, but my Nana’s been there for me."

Surprise Friends
"I've learnt to think before I open my mouth - and Ruth's become less sensitive because of me..."

Compass Man
"I'm a human magnet - every memory has got a compass direction that goes with it - it’s absurd…

Edible People?
"My friend links names with colours - and food - she sees one person as a purple love heart ..."

Irritating Noises
"I can't abide 'wet' voices - I frequently turn off the radio because every other word is squelchy..."

Priest in the Family
"It’s a strange experience - I don’t think many sons would have the opportunity to marry their father."

A Kurdish Love Story
"I'm Kurdish - my family had never met a foreigner so marrying an English girl was a very alien idea to them..."

Love on Wheels
"We're both in wheelchairs - and in love - why should we be different because we're disabled."

Edible People?
"My friend links names with colours - and food - she sees one person as a purple love heart ..."

'Missing' Mum
The police were convinced that not many people who've been abducted take their toothbrush with them ...

Car Wars
"Daddy's car is very messy - we don't refuse to go in it, but we do prefer Mummy's car."

I Can't Get Out of Debt
4 years ago, Angela was comfortably off, now she says, "I’m £8000 in debt & I dread opening the post …"

Mum Will Have My Baby...
"My daughter is infertile - if she wanted a baby, I'd have one for her ... it's a natural thing to for a mother to do."

Underpants Test Pilot
"I'd whizz my new underpants up to 20,000 feet in my plane, do a few loops, rolls and spins, then finish with a stall ..."

The Giggly-Gogglies
Griselda and her sister love silly jokes, 'Oh God! you're so simple Mum!' say Griselda's children

Miracle Child
"My grandfather felt a bump and stopped reversing the car - he got out and screamed - I was pinned under the back wheel ..."

Beating the Big C.
"I've decided to have no truck with being in remission. As far as I'm concerned, I'm cured until I hear different."

Life After Rejection
"Friends tell me that "you'll get over it" and "time is a great healer"... isn't there a quicker way?"

Coping with HIV
"I felt dirty - I couldn't understand how I'd become HIV positive - my partner had in

Disabled Not Different
"If I'd been a visually impaired child in a sighted family I'd have been mollycoddled…"

"My Other Girls"
Stella cared for outcast pregnant girls in her own home, "I'd been there before them and knew the heartache ..."

You'll Send Us Anything
"Coll, D.M., et al., Imaging appearances of Sister Mary Joseph nodule. British Journal of Radiology, 1999."

Beryl's Mannequins
"Beryl wanted a male member of the family so we bought Melvyn, the Butler, totally naked, from a shopfitter..."

Sister Sister
"When my sister came back after 8 months, she looked drained and skinny - I just wanted to scoop her up ... she cried for weeks."

Home Is A Hostel
"I used to drive past the Salvation Army Hostel - I never expected to be living here myself."

An Unattached Arm
"We were astonished to see what appeared to be a disembodied arm whirling towards us..."

Career versus Family
Sabina's father told her, "If you pursue that career, you’re not coming back home."

Musical Inspiration
"You could hear in his voice that he was obviously a singer with passion who believed in what he was doing..."

Racy Aunt May
Jen Green remembers her glamorous Aunt May. "As soon as she would arrive, the local servicemen would come and call for her to take her to dances..."

Not Just Horsing Around
Judy Preston feels the pressure while her daughter Louise participates in a show jumping competition. "I’ve been told that I used to raise my leg every time she went over a jump, as if I was jumping it myself..."

Audiophiles
A group of sound lovers swap tall tales of audio excellence. "I spend all my money on my Hi-Fi. Some people think that I’m mad..."

The Tale of the Talking Tampax Box
A traditional Jewish storyteller goes too far in trying to give a voice to her son's playthings. "There’s almost this sort of sidelong look like ‘I’m humiliating my mother and she’s too stupid to realise...'"

Has Fear Got Your Number?
Lisa was afraid of maths until she took a class at her children's school. "It’s given me the confidence to go on and better myself..."

Bring on the Dancing Horses
Following an illness, Miranda lost part of her memory. "I don’t actually know what I am going to remember..."

Platformed Policeman
Youngsters might think Seargeant Sanderson doesn't like their trendy clothes. "I’m not being critical at all. I’m just casting my mind back..."

Speaking in Tongues
It's tough when you don't speak the language. It's tougher still when it's a secret language...

From Russia With Love
"We've just returned from the orphanage - a tiny little girl is going to be my daughter..."

Technogran
Grandmother, Teresa, is a computer games addict, "It's unnatural but so exciting..."

Insecurity Blankets
'Sucky' is Hilary's name for her security blanket. Her husband calls it a 'manky hankie'...

Mums and Exams
"My son's worried about the exam and I'm worried about him worrying."

An Easy Friendship
Mrs Pettigrew is 106 - Miles is 38, "We talk about everything - it’s a natural, easy friendship..."

Walking Back To Health
"I panicked for a few days, but as I walked my mind went into a lower gear..."

Life is a List
"I like crossing things off my list - it helps me sleep better!"

Half A Family
"My mother hid so much of her life from me - gradually pieces emerged..."

Celebrating Cancer
"I'm having a tattoo to mark the fact that 20 years ago I had cancer - and I'm still here ..."

Forgiving My Attacker
Clare says "I don't feel there's anything to forgive my attacker for - I was never angry with him..."

Mother Chicken
Nicola is an egg donor, "Ludicrously, I told my sons to think of mummy as a chicken ..."

Geriatric Rap
Home Truths presents grandfather, Peter Flint's, rap debut ... Grey Power!

Coping with Cancer
"My tumour has a nickname to distance it from me - it's like an alien invader."

One Child's War
"At the end of the war, there was a threat - people said we'd have to pay for what my father did..."

Lost love-making
When Tony became impotent, doctors told him, 'Don’t worry, it'll come back.' But it didn’t ...

Radio Addict
"My father bought me a crystal set which I listened to under the bedclothes."

Double-Decker Obsessives
"Driving a double-decker bus is like a drug - I get out of the cab on a high - it’s as good as a fix!"

The Challenge of AIDS
"I wanted to prove that someone with AIDS could hold down a senior position at work..."

Sheds & Secrets
"A man’s shed is his private world of oily rags and rusty keys - visitors are only tolerated."

Buried Treasure
"We started diggingg on Saturday - by Monday we had the car dug out of the sands ..."

Parents and Sex
"When my son was 17, I told him I was pregnant. He was absolutely horrified - he really thought all that was finished with ..."

Exotic Oldies
"My grandmother was the Champion Whistler of the World and my grandfather, a German spy!"

Contract Killers
"As I rolled out of the car, I watched it disappear over the cliff, thinking my wife was still in there … "

Really Mean
"We had stand-up fights in the supermarket. Economy brands appeared in the basket and my husband would stalk the yellow sticker man ..."

Parents and Sex
"When my son was 17, I told him I was pregnant. He was absolutely horrified - he really thought all that was finished with ..."

The Tale of Joey The Crow
The town of Hucknall was devastated when their 'pet' crow died, "Joey was laid in state in Sketchley's shop window ..."

Esme's House
"Once you've lived in Esme's house, you start seeing through boundaries - when you do, you see a new world..."

Molly's Parents
Molly's sectioned both her parents under the Mental Health Act, "They haven't been the most brilliant parents, but I'd move the world for either of them.

Name Change
A New Year and a new person, "As from January 1st, I would like to be known as Ilena Mariel rather than Ilena Burton."

Child Abduction
Andrea's 2 year old son has been abducted, " I know I’ll get him back - I just don’t know when. If I lose that faith, I'll crash…"

Top Tips for Relatives
Reverend Victor Stock's secret of getting on with relatives you see only once a year is, "Smile a lot and never show off!"

Silly Family Secrets
"It's too much like hard work to keep secrets, you've got to remember what you've told and to whom ..."